


and when the world isn't fair, I pretend that we're there

by Splashy



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Fluff, emma's grandma owns a pine tree farm, this is just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Splashy/pseuds/Splashy
Summary: Emma's grandma owns a pine tree farm. Emma and Alyssa spend a wintery day in it.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	and when the world isn't fair, I pretend that we're there

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be posted like, two months ago but. i kinda....got some writer's block for a while and couldn't bring myself to work on it. but it's here! and hey at least it's still winter...
> 
> many many thanks to gay_relations for a lot of the ideas in this fic

It’s winter. Emma’s favorite time of the year. She loves the snow - Indiana certainly seems to get plenty of it - and sitting inside, looking out at the snow flurries and drinking hot chocolate. 

And Christmas. Emma loves Christmas. Maybe not the actual holiday itself - she always hated having to be around so much family - but the general feeling surrounding it, she loved. And this is her first Christmas since she started living with her grandma, so that would definitely make it the best year ever.

Now Emma found herself looking out the window as the snow softly fell outside. Her eyes strayed to the pine tree farm her grandma kept and an idea struck her. Next thing she knew, she was scrambling up and heading into the living room where her grandma currently resided. 

“Hey, gran?” 

“Yes, dear?” Her grandma turned her attention away from what she was watching on the TV and to her granddaughter.

“Is it okay if Alyssa comes over?” her voice was slightly nervous. She had never told her grandmother about her relationship with Alyssa, though Emma was sure she suspected there was something going on. She just couldn’t bring herself to tell her grandma. 

“Of course. You know she’s welcome anytime.” Emma definitely wasn’t imagining the twinkle in her eye, but she just takes her phone out and quickly sends a text to Alyssa, asking if she could come over. In hindsight, perhaps she should have done this first. 

Either way, Alyssa said she could. Emma yelled to her grandma, who was still in the living room, that she was going to pick Alyssa up and then quickly went to her pickup truck that she had gotten not long ago. 

It was still snowing which while she would normally appreciate it, she didn’t really like it when it was snowing as she drove. But it was worth it to get to spend the day with Alyssa. She’d only been at Emma’s grandma’s house a couple of times, and they usually only ever stayed inside. But this time, Emma wanted to show Alyssa the pine tree farm her grandma had. 

She had likely seen it before - with her grandma being the only one nearby to sell pine trees during Christmas, it’s not like anyone else had much of a choice unless they wanted to drive for a few hours - but this time would be different. It’d be special. Or, at least, Emma hoped it would be. She was mostly just excited to spend time with her girlfriend. It didn’t matter to her where they went.

Still, she wanted to share this part of her with Alyssa. Emma always loved the pine tree farm, even before she started living here. She loved walking among the trees and sometimes just sitting on the ground, enjoying the peaceful feeling that always came when she was here. She’d let it envelop her and ease her mind.

It didn’t take long for Emma to get to Alyssa’s house. Her mom wasn’t home yet, something the two of them greatly appreciated because if she had been home then they wouldn’t have been able to do this. She hops out of her car and over to the door, knocking on it. It doesn’t take long for it to open, revealing a smiling Alyssa behind it. Emma longed to reach over and kiss her, but they couldn’t do that. Not now, so out in the open. 

“Hey,” Alyssa says as soon as the door opens. Emma smiles back at her.

“Hey.”

“You ready to go?” 

“Yup!” The two of them went over to Emma’s car, quickly getting inside. It was chilly out, and the snow was still falling, but Emma couldn’t wait until they’d be among the trees.

Alyssa stares out the window and at the snow falling around them as they drive back to Emma’s. Soon, Emma has parked and they’re stepping out. They went over to the door to warm up a little before spending time outside. Emma holds the door open for Alyssa who just smiles as she walks through.

“I’m back!” Emma calls out to her grandma as the door closes behind them. Betsy is still in the living room, though she turns her attention to the girls as they enter the room.

“Hello, girls. There’s some hot chocolate if either of you wants any.”

Emma turns to Alyssa who shakes her head slightly. “Nah, I think we’ll get some after we’ve been outside for a bit. Speaking of which...wanna go see the farm?” she asks.

“Of course! I’ve only asked to see it a million times,” Alyssa grins. Emma chuckles nervously, scratching the back of her neck.

“Yeah...I just wanted to...wait for the right time?”

Alyssa rolls her eyes and grabs Emma’s hand, pulling her outside with a wave to Betsy. As soon as they’re outside, Emma starts leading Alyssa, still holding her hand, to the back where the farm is held.

When they stop in front of it, Emma looks over at Alyssa to see her reaction. The girl was staring, wide-eyed, at the trees before them. 

“What do you think?”

“I’ve been here many times, though...there was a time when my mom stopped taking me to get our tree here and instead, we drove for many hours to a different tree farm. I’m...not sure when she started doing that, but I do know she doesn’t like your grandmother. So that probably has something to do with it.”

Emma sighs, kicking the snow lightly. “Yeah. And my grandma doesn’t like your mom. She does like you, though. And...so do I.” She smiles at Alyssa, who breathes out a laugh.

“Oh you do, do you?” She takes the few steps needed to reach Emma and takes her hand again. Alyssa tugs it, slightly, bringing Emma a little closer. She leans forward a little, pressing her forehead against Emma’s. Emma swallows at their close proximity. 

They had only been in a relationship for a couple of weeks now. Things were still so new between them, but Emma loved every second of it. 

“Hey,” Alyssa whispers, grinning.

“Hi.”

Alyssa giggles slightly before pulling back a little, just enough to kiss Emma’s nose, before going back all the way and running over to the trees. She looks back over her shoulder. “C’mon, I want you to show me the trees!”

Emma stands there, slightly dumbfounded, before she shakes her head and darts after Alyssa. The two walk into the pine tree farm together until they are surrounded on all sides.

It was a wintery wonderland. Each tree had been dusted with the snow that had been falling, and the flakes fell down around them as it continued to snow. Emma glances over at Alyssa and becomes entranced by the snow floating down around her, landing on her hat and coat. The snow seems to sparkle, and Emma finds that she can’t look away.

At least, that was until she was hit in the side of the head by a snowball.

“Wha—” It startled her so much she stumbled and fell in the snow, sitting there for a moment before she turned to Alyssa who was clutching her sides in laughter. Emma’s eyes narrow. “Oh, you’re in for it now, Greene!” She quickly gets up, scoops some snow, makes it into a sort of snowball shape, and turns to Alyssa.

Alyssa had quickly ducked behind a tree, but Emma could tell where she was by the barely muffled laughter that escapes her. She steps over to it, going to the side of the tree so she could see Alyssa, and threw the snowball just as Alyssa noticed her.

It hit her, making a _whomp!_ sound as it made its mark. 

After that, it became an all-out war. Snowballs being thrown left and right, some hitting but most missing. It lasted for a few minutes until Emma, exhausted, sat down on the snow and called for a truce. 

Alyssa, laughing, drops her snowball that she had been preparing to throw and sits down on the snow beside Emma. It was cold, but it was also worth it to just sit here and gaze at the trees around them.

Somewhere, off in the distance, a bird cried out. Snow drifts down peacefully around them. Emma was perfectly content to just relax here.

Alyssa, on the other hand, was not.

“You still haven’t shown me the trees.”

Emma looks over at her, an eyebrow raised. “They’re right there.”

“This isn’t all of them, though.”

Emma chuckles. “Alright, alright.” She stands and walks over to the nearest tree. She pauses for just a second, hesitating slightly, before pointing to it. “I, uh, named all of the trees. This one’s Clint.”

Alyssa tries and fails to hold back a giggle. She walks over to Emma and looks up at the tree. “Why Clint?”

“Uh...named after the Stardew Valley character. A lot of these are, actually…” She kicks some snow lightly with her feet, suddenly nervous. She quickly shakes herself out of it and points to a tree on the other side. “That one’s Emily. Clint’s close to her, but not _too_ close. He’s just constantly,” she pauses at this, a large grin on her face, “ _pining_ after her.”

Alyssa pauses for a second before she snorts out a laugh. “Oh my god, that was awful.”

“Shut up, you loved it,” Emma grins at her. She then takes Alyssa’s hand and walks to the next tree over.

“This one’s Oliver, that one’s Captain Tickly Leaves, and that’s—”

“Wait, Captain Tickly Leaves?” 

“Yup. Hey, you try to come up with names for a lot of trees!”

Alyssa just laughs. “You’re such a dork.”

Emma shrugs. “You’re the one that decided to date me.” Alyssa is silent for a moment and Emma momentarily panics. Sure, they were together, but it hadn’t been all that long.

“Yeah,” Alyssa murmurs, turning to Emma with a soft smile. “I did.” Emma swallows as Alyssa leaned in.

And then they were kissing. It was short and sweet, and Emma finds herself smiling into it. It wasn’t long before they pulled away, smiling at each other. Emma squeezes Alyssa’s hand and Alyssa squeezes hers back.

Emma turns away and starts pointing to the trees again, once more saying their names. Alyssa is silent beside her, giggling at the funny ones, but not saying anything.

Some of the trees had more serious, normal names. Others had funny ones that either made sense or didn’t - “Why is one named ‘Tingle’?”, and there were a couple named after Broadway stars.

There were only a few of them left. Emma got to one of the ones left and suddenly looks more nervous than she’s been all day. “This one’s, uh...named Hayley.”

“After…”

“Hayley Kiyoko.”

Alyssa smiles. “I’ve heard some of her music. Not a lot, since my mom would have a fit if she found out I did, but...I like the few songs I have heard.” 

Emma rubs the back of her neck. “I’ve looked up to her a lot. Her and Dodie, who is right over there.” She points to a tree across the row.

“I’ve also heard a couple of her songs. But...again, not many.” Alyssa sighs.

“Well...we’ll just have to listen to them together at some point, then.” Emma smiles at her.

“That...would be nice.” Alyssa smiles back.

“Sweet. We’ll...have to do that at some point. But for now...there’s one more tree. My favorite one, actually.” Taking Alyssa’s hand again, she leads them to a tree that was a little further from the rest. Though it wasn’t much of a tree anymore. “It actually just got cut down yesterday. I tried to resist letting it get cut down, but...I guess whoever picked this tree really wanted it.”

Alyssa hums lightly, leaning slightly into Emma’s side. “And what’s this one named?”

“Oh—uh.” Emma rubs the back of her neck and avoids looking into Alyssa’s eyes. “I...named it after you.”

“Aww, how sweet.” Alyssa bumped her shoulder against Emma’s, causing the blonde to shyly look at her. “Though it has been cut down…”

“I tried to save it! But my grandma just wasn’t having it.” She hangs her head a little. Alyssa watches her for a bit.

“Y’know what this tree stump needs? A funeral.” Alyssa snaps her fingers, grinning down at the tree stump.

“...A funeral.”

“Yeah! C’mon, I know you wanna host one for it.”

“...Can’t argue with that. So what goes into a tree funeral?” 

“Hmm…” Alyssa hums thoughtfully. “I’m not sure, actually. But—stay right there.” Emma obeys, watching with a raised eyebrow as Alyssa moves to the other side of the stump and faces Emma.

“What are you—”

“Shhh!” Emma chuckles but keeps quiet. After a moment, Alyssa clears her throat and begins to speak. “Here lies Alyssa Tree. She was well-loved until the time she got cut down. And even now, she’s probably being well-loved as kids decorate her branches with ornaments. But she shall be forever missed.”

“Rest in peace, Alyssa Tree.” 

They stand there in silence for a few moments before Emma looks over at Alyssa. “Alright, now what?”

“Now…” Alyssa bends down a little and scoops up a ball of snow. As soon as Emma realizes what she’s doing, she tries to get out of the way but it’s too late, and a snowball soon made its mark. “It’s round 2 of the snowball fight.” Alyssa grins at her.

“I won’t let you off so easily this time!” Emma quickly sculpts a ball out of the snow and throws it at Alyssa, who just barely manages to duck in time. Only a couple of seconds pass before a snowball is thrown her way. In her haste to get out of the way, she slips on the snow and falls, dropping her snowball. She sits up, shakes snow out of her hair, and stands, getting a fistful of snow on her way. She smooths it into a ball and looks around for Alyssa who had disappeared.

She listens carefully, her eyes darting around as she tries to figure out which tree her girlfriend had hid behind. Snow still fell around them, and Emma realizes she was starting to get a little cold but she didn’t want to go inside just yet. She still had a snowball fight to finish.

She was just about to turn around and check that side of the area when a snowball hit her in the back of her head. She whirls around, catching sight of Alyssa as she darted to the side of a tree, and throws the snowball. At first, she thought she had missed until she heard the sound of the snowball hitting Alyssa and her responding gasp. Emma grins, then runs as best she can in the snow over to Alyssa.

She finds her facing away from Emma, trying to sculpt some more snowballs and adding them to a pile she’s formed. With no warning at all, Emma wraps her arms around Alyssa from behind her and carefully takes the snowball from Alyssa’s hands and throws it. Alyssa lets out a yelp of surprise before it dissolves into laughter.

With her arms now around Alyssa, Emma starts to try and pick her up. Alyssa lets out a gasp before she starts giggling even more. Emma struggles to lift her, letting out a huff of annoyance.

“What are you doing? Put me down!” Alyssa manages to say through her laughter, looking down at Emma as best she could.

Eventually, Emma gives up and sets her down, letting out a sigh as she does so.

“What were you even doing?” Alyssa asks, her laughter starting to die down at least slightly.

“I was trying to lift you to the top of the tree.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s where angels belong!”

Alyssa stares at her for a moment before she grins and chuckles a little. She goes up to Emma, takes her hands and leans in. Emma’s breath hitches, but Alyssa just kisses her on the nose before stepping away.

“It’s starting to get cold. Should we go inside?” She smiles innocently at Emma. Emma narrows her eyes a little before conceding.

“Yeah, probably. C’mon, we can get some hot chocolate. And...are you hungry? I can make some ramen too, if you want.” Emma takes Alyssa’s hand and the two make their way back to the house.

“Hot chocolate and ramen...that combination doesn’t seem like it would be very good.” 

Emma hums. “No, probably not, but...they’re both hot, so at least they’d warm you up?” 

“Yeah, fair enough.” They get to the back of the house then and Emma opens the door. 

“We’re back!” She calls out as they enter, taking off their boots and coats before making their way to the front where they see Betsy in the kitchen.

She turns around and brandishes two mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows piled on both. The two girls grin and each takes a mug.

“I have to go run some errands, but you two have fun.” Betsy grabs her keys and heads to the door.

“Seeya, gran!” 

“Thanks for letting me come over, Mrs. Nolan.”

“Of course. You’re always welcome here. And call me Betsy, dear.” She smiles at them.

“Thank you, Mrs.—Betsy.” Alyssa fumbles a little but is quick to correct herself.

As Besty leaves, Emma and Alyssa walk over to the couch and sit down. They set their hot chocolate mugs on the table. Emma, a little shy but trying to hide it, lifts her arm a little and Alyssa immediately snuggles into her side. Emma wraps her arm around her and they sit like that for a bit.

Eventually, Emma hears Alyssa’s stomach grumble and lets out a laugh. “Want some ramen?”

“That would be great.” Alyssa smiles up at her. As Emma takes her arm off of Alyssa she lets out a little whine before flushing. Emma just winks at her.

“If you want, we can also watch a movie while we eat. I’ll let you pick while I get the ramen started,” Emma calls out to Alyssa from the kitchen as she gets a pot and starts to boil water in it. She can hear some shuffling coming from the living room and peeks out, watching as Alyssa sorts through the collection of movies. She chuckles as she notices Alyssa’s looking through the Disney movies. 

The sound of her pot of water starting to boil causes her to rush back over to it. She takes a couple of packets of ramen and adds them to the pot, letting them spread out as they start to cook. She hesitates for a second before adding a third packet. Can never have too much, after all! And after running around outside, she knew they were both bound to be hungry. Emma knew she certainly was, and if Alyssa’s stomach growl was anything to go by, she was too.

Emma lets the noodles cook and turns back to watching Alyssa. It looks like she had narrowed it down to a few choices and seemed to be thinking heavily on which one to pick. Emma smiles as she watches her, the brunette’s eyes darting between each movie as she weighs her options. 

Eventually, she seems to realize Emma is watching her and looks up, slightly shocked. She smiles, a light blush dusting her cheeks. “I have to choose the best one!” Emma just chuckles, shaking her head slightly, still smiling at her. Alyssa turns back to the movies and Emma walks back to the pot of noodles.

She stirs them a little before deciding they were done and turns the stove off. She drains it and then adds the flavor packets, stirring it. Once they are mixed in, she pours the ramen into two separate bowls and brings them out into the living room.

“Have you chosen a movie yet?” she asks as she sets the bowls down on the coffee table.

“Yup! How does Lady and the Tramp sound?” Alyssa holds up the movie.

“Sounds perfect. You can go sit on the couch - I’ll get the movie set up.”

Not much later, the two are sitting on the couch and eating the ramen as they watch the movie.

When the spaghetti scene comes up, Emma gets a thoughtful look on her face. “Do you think that works?”

“What, eating both ends of the spaghetti? It’d probably break..,” Alyssa murmurs.

“Ok but...what if it doesn’t? We should try it!” Emma leans her head forward, looking at Alyssa with a big smile on her face. Alyssa rolls her eyes affectionately.

“What, with ramen?” At Emma’s nod, she chuckles. “Alright, alright. We can try it.” 

“Yes! Ok, I’ll just…” Emma grabs her bowl and brings it closer to herself. She stares down at it, trying to figure out how exactly this is going to work. Beside her, Alyssa rolls her eyes again.

“Let me just…” Carefully, she picks up one of the noodles. Luckily, she manages to grab a rather long one. She offers one end to Emma while taking the other for herself.

Both girls lean in, already in close proximity to each other. They’re both blushing but persist, trying to get to the other end of the noodle. 

They get close and then—it breaks. Emma frowns down at it. 

“Dammit...I was really hoping that would’ve worked.” She looks so disappointed that Alyssa quickly swallows what was left of the noodle that she got before rushing in and kissing Emma.

Emma’s startled slightly by the kiss but she soon melts into it. She can taste the ramen and something that’s just inherently _Alyssa._ She presses in a little closer before they eventually pull away, smiling at each other.

“Hope that makes up for it not working,” Alyssa grins at her.

“Yeah. I think it does.” Emma leans in again, kissing Alyssa once more while the movie plays on in the background.

Outside, the snow fell as a chilly breeze swept around. But here, with Alyssa tucked into her side, Emma had never felt warmer.


End file.
